OBJ AND IBB BATTLE OF THE GENERALS, HOW THEIR COOKIE CRUMBLED?

Latest available information has it that a somewhat innocuous statement, a response to an inquiry sent the once cozy conspiratorial relationship between Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida to the cold doldrums. According to sources, the cataclysmic statement "it is not going to be possible" threw the spanner in their relationship which has so much deteriorated  that they are now calling each other names and publicly. The story has it that during the ill-fated third term fight with his gods' attempt at elongating his presidency, Obasanjo reached out to Babangida for support. During their telephone call in respect of the agenda, Obasanjo allegedly said to Babangida, "You know, these people here have been asking me to extend my tenure, so what do you think? And tell me the truth." Babangida allegedly answered "Sir, it is not going to be possible."  

Subsequently, when Babangida wanted to run for president in 2007, he reached out to Obasanjo over the telephone for his support and approval? So during a telephone call Babangida placed to Obasanjo, Babangida said, "Sir, people have been asking me to come out and contest the presidential election, what do you think?" Obasanjo true to type, sarcastically and dismissively replied Babangida in his exact own words, "Ibrahim, it is not going to be possible." So today, this two conspirators are trying to strangle each other just because of their respective "it is not going to be possible" responses to another's attempt to gain an illegal and criminal support? Icheoku says, it is good for the wind to sometimes blow to reveal the arse of the chicken; otherwise how could Nigerians have ever confirmed what they have always suspected all these years that there is a pact from hell between the Otta deity and the Minna fairy-toothed prince; which pact damaged Nigeria so badly it still stinks and sucks. The good news however is that the gods are wise and the chapter on Obasanjo and Babangida has now been opened by the good Lord himself and there is no escaping judgment for both men. Icheoku says, let the battle of the Generals take a turn for the worse!

OBJ AND IBB WAR OF THE WORLDS, THE FIGHT OF THE GENERALS!

You have heard about how bad it gets when two elephants fight, but the fight of two generals is as ferocious if not more kill-him-quick jugular-directed. Icheoku says it would appear that God has finally answered Nigerians prayers and now wants to expose the two most evil men in Nigeria, who messed up Nigeria so badly? Between them, they ruled Nigeria for 19 years out of her total 40 years of existence. Put in another way, IBB and OBJ put together ruled Nigeria for half of Nigeria's life. But what did Nigerians gain from their unfortunate journey to leadership, nothing but abject despondency, sorrow and tears; they left in their trail a country where nothing seem to be working as it is supposed to and where availability of power is an exception rather the norm and a damaged economy in near comatose. So it is about time they exposed their "yash", for all Icheoku cares!

Icheoku advises Nigerians to please just stay out of the way and watch from the ringside as this two most hated Nigerians reveal to Nigerians all the atrocities they perpetrated against the people of Nigeria. According to one aphorism, those who the gods want to kill he first make mad and so it is safe to assume that this two very old men who are now behaving badly like market women and calling themselves names, have both gone mad. Icheoku prays that their madness never heal until they both make complete confessions on their evil plot that kept Nigeria on her knees for such a long time. When the fight is over, Nigerians should remember who threw the first stone and who forgot that the other guy is not a simple push-over; but is an area father who fights down and dirty; and who is not afraid to take on anybody including all the Northern Mallams put together? If Babangida only had the frame of mind to ask Atiku why he went on bended knees to Abeokuta to beg Baba Iyabo, may be he would have been more circumspect with his vituperation. 

Icheoku asks, could Ibrahim Babangida have been so mad at Obasanjo to lose his cool because of his investment in imposing him on Nigerians in 1999 as "elected" president which did not pay off as gambled? That Obasanjo went rogue and stopped Babangida cold from his planned reentry into Aso Rock as Nigeria's "elected" president should not surprise anybody including Babangida, so what then is the real beef? It could make some reasonable and honorable person mad, except that Babangida is none of that and was too foolish to think he is the only one with Maradona's tendencies or who could easily betray his friend. Remember that the murdered Chief MKO Abiola once admonished that "with a friend like IBB no one needs a an enemy" and so Icheoku is flabagasted that Babangida expected Obasanjo to honor their agreement to toss Nigeria around like a ping-pong between themselves? Or is it a case of the Igbo saying that "he who kills with the knife never allows someone with a knife to come behind him?" Here is a very treacherous and contriving man who never kept faith with his friends and even killed his best man at his wedding, Mamman Vasta; now throwing fit because another of his type reneged on an illegal contract to hand Nigeria back to him?

But whatever the case, Icheoku is loving this fight between the two Generals and pray that it never ends, there should never be a truce nor mediation of any kind until they confess their mortal sins against Nigeria. The gloves are finally off, now is bare-knuckles time and this two old and near senile men are going at each other like killer bears. What a scene they are creating in Nigeria similar to two bandits fighting over their loot. Icheoku would like to know if any of them is ready to divulge information on how Chief MKO Abiola was murdered or Dele Giwa parcel-bombed or Attorney General Bola Ige slaughtered in his dinning room while eating dinner? Nigerians are all ears to hear more from both "A Complete Failure" and "A Fool at Seventy" and no one including President Goodluck Jonathan should attempt to stop God's plan for Nigeria from being fully realized with the unmasking of this two depraved men of shit. President Jonathan must endeavor to stay out of the affray and resist any attempt to goad him into acting a peace-maker between this troubled men; and also should remember that what he has, Babangida wanted? Finally, Icheoku asks President Jonathan to avoid by all means necessary stepping between the front of this two fast moving freight-trains coming at each other on a single track and allow them to self-destruct and go to hell before they cause another civil war in Nigeria. Like President Jonathan stayed out of Ogun State's Obasanjo and Daniel's war of turf, he must also try and stay out of the unfolding OBJ and IBB war of failed expectations and let the good Lord take care of this men.

IBB TAKES A JAB AT OBJ, AS THE NORTH PILES ON THE OTTA DEITY!

Icheoku asks is it a case of a kettle calling the pot black or just a sore loser taking it out on the only man who could stop his ambition cold in Nigeria? Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida is a man Icheoku loathes so much because of his arrogant self-righteousness and inability to ever take direct blame for any of his numerous foibles. Several years after he annulled the freest and fairest election ever held in Nigeria, the evil genius is yet to take full responsibility and make a sincere mea culpa for that atrocious decision that is still convulsing Nigeria. 

Yet in his usual holier than thou attitude, the criminal coup plotter, instead of accepting responsibility for his Northern Nigeria's imposition of Obasanjo on Nigeria in 1999, is here castigating his choice-candidate Olusegun Obasanjo in bad light as a failure? Quoting the toothy fairy Prince of Minna who has recently been leading the Islamic Northern Nigeria call to free another mass-murderer Major Hamza al-Mustapher, “If I had been lucky like those in the recent past, I would have done more than we did. In my eight years in office I was able to manage poverty and achieve success while somebody for eight years managed affluence and achieved failure.” Icheoku asks Babangida to please enumerate these alleged successes of his for the benefit of history and also explain to Nigerians what he did with the $12billion Iraqi oil windfall? Until then, Icheoku maintains that Babangida's single most important or notorious legacy is tied to the annulled June 12th presidential election of Chief MKO Abiola, period.

GOVERNOR RICK PERRY OF TEXAS, DOES NOT BELIEVE IN GLOBAL WARMING?

 

The cowboy governor of the Lone Star State of Texas, the man who want to take Texas out of the Union by secession and belatedly a Republican presidential candidate nominee wanna-be, Rick Perry, has denounced global warming as a big hoax and denied that it was man-made. Governor Rick Perry also said that he would not have signed the recently compromised debt ceiling and would rather America defaulted, sending the world economy down the drain for all he cares? 

Icheoku says when it comes to the type of people coming out of Texas and their intelligence quotient, America need not look any further but recall the past eight years of the other Texan, former President GW Bush. So little wonder that this latest entrant to the already choked-off Republican Party's presidential nomination race is just being a true Texan. Icheoku asks Governor Rick Perry to please explain the ongoing mother of all droughts currently afflicting his state of Texas, as evidenced by this picture of a partially dried out lake in Dallas (footprints are areas covered by water before). Or may be, it is a curse from On High for all the blood that Texas sheds by executing people? But in Texas, they are as loud as it gets and Icheoku wonders why a man who want to secede from the Union now wants to be president of the same union he hates to remain part of - the United States of America? Governor Rick Perry wanted his state OUT of America! Oh Rick Perry!

PAWLENTY CRASHES OUT OF 2012 GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION BID!

 It is now one less of Republican Party presidential candidates wanna-be as the once hopeful Timothy Pawlenty of Minnesota has been forced to withdraw from contention due to his abysmal performance so far and apparent rejection and unacceptability by the American people. The Iowa Straw poll did it for him and he recoiled back into his shell faster than a startled tortoise. Icheoku says, simply put, Tim is not man enough to soldier on and lacks the guts required of an American president! 

Icheoku says a wish-washy Tim and a man who could not even take on Mitt Romney, the Mormon, should not expect to be allowed to fly the banner of the Republican Party into the 2012 presidential election. Now with Tim out of the way, the wanna-be numbers are not even thinning down as should ordinarily be the case - his place has been filled by the Texan secessionist Governor Rick Perry, who has thrown his hat into the ring? But America will not allow a man who wants to secede from the union to ever enter the White House, so no shaking. May be Tim Pawlenty can now leave politics alone and become an ordained pastor or a classroom professor where he perfectly fits and let politicians do their thing. But is America ready for a woman and a Bachman president; except that the 'good ole boys' Republicans will not let America decide that as they would knock off Michele before it gets to that decision time.

NIGERIAN KIDNAPPERS, RELEASE MIKEL OBI'S DAD AND FACE POLITICIANS!

 Icheoku hereby call for the immediate release of the kidnapped father of Nigeria's soccer ambassador Mikel Obi. Nigerians in Diaspora are not the problem and are merely trying to provide for their families similarly tranded in the Nigerian State marooned economy like those kidnappers. Therefore it will be a great disservice to them and a debasing of their effort for those understandably frustrated Nigerians, forced into kidnapping for survival, to now vent their anger on the wrong people. Icheoku says the economic malaise in Nigeria was not caused by Diaspora Nigerians but by rudderless leadership of politicians and military men who are and were rather busy feathering their nests instead of doing what it takes to fix what is broken both politically and economically in Nigeria. 

Please Nigerian kidnappers, stop this madness of kidnapping; but if you must, take a look at the people who brought the hardship on Nigerians - those leaders past and present who are not keen at solving Nigeria's multitude of problems. Also note that In Britain, following the recent riots, Prime Minister Cameron has promised to fix what is broken in the British society; and other ongoing and already successful revolutions in Africa should provide you a guiding compass as to where to direct your criminality. May be it is about time the energy being wasted in kidnapping innocent hardworking Nigerians, who are similarly frustrated as you, is channeled at the appropriate quarters. Take your grievances to where it ought to belong - Aso Rock, National Assembly as well as to your state governors and members of the various states house of assembly? 

You have the wrong guy in Mister Obi senior as the president's mom or dad could have fetched you all the money in the world that you will ever need and possibly create in addition, a "Kidnappers Amnesty Fund and Program?" No one ever knows what criminality could truly fetch for a Nigerian until you ask a coup plotter like Ibrahim Babangida or those erstwhile Niger Delta oil-terrorists or their copycat Northern Nigeria Islamic Boko Haram terrorists, now being courted by the Federal government? All it takes is just an audacious and brazen grab of one top government official's parent and it is all good; as talks to find a lasting peace and resolution on kidnapping in Nigeria will commence immediately? Icheoku calls on Nigerian terrorists-kidnappers to please leave families of very hardworking Diaspora Nigerians alone. In their place, they should "bravely" go to Aso Rock and grab the president or his dad or mom and they are in business? What a madness that no one is now safe anywhere in his own country; and someone please tell Icheoku it is okay?

NIGERIA'S PROBLEM IS SELF-INFLICTED - GOVERNOR YUGUDA

"The problem of the country was self-inflicted, Nigerians don’t love themselves and their country." - Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State. Icheoku says once again this governor has spoken as a true son of his father - he spoke the truth and nothing but the truth as no one living Nigerian is that patriotic any longer.

If Nigerians love themselves and country, why is there no electricity in Nigeria after $86billion has been spent over the years to provide same? If Nigerians love themselves and country, why are some people legal untouchables and above the law? If Nigerians love themselves and the country why do they still go for medical treatment overseas instead of providing standardized medical centers in Nigeria? If Nigerians love themselves and country, why do they still spend their holidays overseas instead of developing travel and tourism industry within the 36 states of Nigeria with Obudu and Mambilla as their flagships? If Nigerians love themselves and country why do they send their children overseas to study instead of improving local tertiary institutions? If Nigerians love themselves and country why do they sabotage everything good meant for the country instead of asking how can I help make this country better? If Nigerians love themselves and country, how can a police corporal making less than three hundred thousand Naira per year explain his country home which cost about five million Naira to build?

Icheoku says the rot permeates the entire body strata of the Nigeria society from the president to the common man under Apagbon bridge in Lagos - all lack real patriotism and true love for country. Otherwise President Jonathan can start the war on patriotism by banning government functionaries from seeking medical treatment abroad or using generators in their houses and offices or even spending their vacations overseas for a start and see them take care of business. Make it a point of responsibility that either everyone swims or no one survives and see Nigeria thrive again. But a situation where anyone with means can access the best vacations, medical treatments, education for their children, finest wines and sometimes food etc from a foreign country, then there is left only one existential need for Nigerians - just make the money by any means and at all cost possible and with it comes the corruption and the attendant decay of the society.

Other societies love their countries because of what their country have done and could do for them, but an average Nigerian asks, what has Nigeria done for me lately but pain and misery especially in the hands of Nigerian police and other security agents? Anyway, Icheoku is merely day-dreaming that there will ever be solution to Nigeria's myriad of problems and lack of patriotism. Even the president himself has not yet declared his assets several months since he was sworn in and somebody please tell Icheoku someone else should be more patriotic than President Jonathan?

BOKO HARAM ARE HYPOCRITES, HATES YET LIKES WESTERN STUFF?

Icheoku says what an irony that a member of a group that is anti-modernity and which considers western education and western civilization dangerous should be so spiffed up in Western outfit - American blue jeans and T-shirt, possibly a Tommy Hilfiger check blue briefs and a white underwear and a complimentary belt. This gunned down Islamic terrorist suicide bomber was either a tale in irony or purposely dressed to outfox security operatives looking for his type. Either way, he swallowed his vomit as the same Western education and civilization which he upbraided now provided his last clothing outfit on this earth and would meet his seventy virgins in them? What a bunch of spineless imbeciles that employ terror to try and cower people and put them in perpetual fear and they are religious? How dare these munchkins terrorize Nigeria thinking Nigerians would allow them have their way and march in lockstep back to medieval times? 

Ordinarily, looking at this clean-shaved and well dressed up terrorist while alive, no one would think that he belonged to that lunatic Islamic terrorist group called Boko Haram and which have held North Eastern Nigeria hostage for quite some time now? Once again was William Shakespeare right that man's contrition of the mind cannot readily or easily be deciphered by merely looking at one's face. Any security operative looking for a Boko Haram Islamic terrorist would have easily passed across this mallam without much as batting an eyelid towards him, talkless of suspecting him as a potential suicide bomber? Gladly enough, his luck ran out, thanks for the vigilance and fast acting police men who dropped him to the dust before he could set off his deadly cargo of explosives at the Nigerian police force office in Maiduguri. Icheoku congratulates the Nigerian police for a job well done and pray they could be this proactive to all the security challenges facing Nigeria. 

However this commendation does not absolve IGP Hafiz Ringim's incompetence or in anyway affect our call for the president to sack him from office for his failure to restore security in Nigeria. No, but let the truth be told, the Nigerian police in Maiduguri did a good job dropping this Islamic terrorist before he could cause additional harm to a Nigeria that is at their ropes. Icheoku calls on Boko Haram to stop terrorizing Nigerians and also to stop using Western stuff since they are against Western stuff; otherwise they stand the risk of being called hypocrites of the worst kind. They should just grow their Islamic beards and throw on their kaftan or sacs and in that way, make it easier for their sorry arses to be spotted and dropped in like fashion as this pictured jackal laying down and cold in the dust. If Boko Haram hates something, they should make their hatred comprehensive and total just like Icheoku hates their murderous stupidity and woeful failed attempt to send Nigeria back to stone age! 

OJUKWU, IS HE GONE?

 Icheoku has not otherwise confirmed the report; but it appears the Ikemba is no more! Snippets of information reaching Icheoku as at Sunday August 14, 2011 by 10.33pm has it that the peoples' war-hero has joined his ancestors and only arrangement to guard against possible breakdown of law and order,,especially within his immediate family is holding the formal announcement of his transition. 

Anyway, lets hope the tell-tale signs which are everywhere and series of meetings being held by some prominent Igbo people have nothing to do with the demise of the Ikemba. Icheoku had hoped that the Dikedioranma of Igboland would have lingered around a little longer on this earth; but hey to live is to leave one's footprint in the sand of time and he left one heck of an indelible giant's footprint; and history will forever accommodate and give him a place in its annals. The one major regret though is that he could not give the world his memoirs and true account of what transpired during the ill-fated but necessary Biafran war of survival against the Nigerian State marauders. Icheoku shall not however say "our adieu" just yet until the story is officially confirmed.

TIGER WOODS, IT IS ABOUT TIME HE HUNG THOSE GOLF CLUBS FOR GOOD?

 Once again Icheoku calls on the once golf great to do himself some good and hang those golf clubs. The PGA Atlanta has again proved that the days of the Tiger is over and has been over since that infamous bimbo eruptions scandal and his trophy wife's departure. 

Admitted he has nothing else to do professionally, but he can at least learn a new vocation or start mentoring some young golfers or just start some other NGO; but this constant and shameless attempt to re-climb the ladder to the Olympian heights where he once stood and strode is only a wishful dream which has no chance in hell of ever becoming a reality. There are simply too many unyielding distractions in his life that it is not going to happen; moreso his age and health issues are co-conspirators in the celestial design to bring his golfing days to an end. So Icheoku calls on Tiger Woods to smell the coffee and wake up from his dream of ever regaining his form and do the honorable thing - retire!

"AIRSTRIKE KILLS INSURGENT WHO DOWNED HELICOPTER?"

 Icheoku is not buying it, the tale that the very insurgent who pulled the trigger that brought down our Chinook helicopter and with it our 30 plus special forces team has been killed? Icheoku wants to rather believe that the story line is more of a confidence booster than reality as there is no way the military could conclusively know which insurgent fired the darn rocket propelled grenade that did the damage; afterall several of them could have been just firing away and one of them got lucky? 

Anyway the real issue raised by this tragedy of our fighters going down in Afghanistan is the wisdom and judgment in packing 30 plus service men in one helicopter, knowing the risk involved should the unexpected as just happened occur? So instead of the military trying to sell us a fable of nailing "the particular insurgent that pulled the trigger", they should explain why they decided to pack that number of our special forces inside just one helicopter. Icheoku has no beef that these type of operations have been ran several thousand times and successfully in the past; but why that many service men in just one helicopter? That is the issue at stake here and not whether such has been successfully done in the past or that the very insurgent who pulled the trigger was killed?

CAMERON'S PLANNED BAN OF SOCIAL MEDIA, ANTI-FREEDOM OF SPEECH?

Icheoku says it is very easy for anyone to remain an angel when no one ruffles his/her feathers. So also is it very easy to pontificate about freedoms and liberties for all when these rights have not been deployed in a way that is threatening and/or inimical to your own very existence. The British government of Prime Minister David Cameron has proved with its latest plan to ban or restrict the use of social media that these professed rights and freedoms are rather ephemeral and subjective to the whims of those who govern? The thought alone suffices and Icheoku does not need to see it implemented to conclude that there is a dictatorship in all of us, especially our supposed leaders if not for a vigilant society that resist such absolute maximums and are on constant lookout for such.


That the supposedly bastion of freedom and democracy, the United Kingdom, is toying with the idea of banning social media including Tweeter, Facebook, My Space etc because they were used to organize people during the latest London riots, is a very serious matter indeed and a cause for concern among every freedom-loving peoples of the world. It is equally quite interesting to see the often-shifting nature of human-beings, depending on whose ox is gored and who is at the receiving end, as the same David Cameron, not too long ago, praised the same social media when they successfully brought down some Middle Eastern and Arab governments as the new-age weapon of choice for organizing societal revolutions? But now that the same revolution is trying to spread to Her Majesty's kingdom with the help of these social media, David Cameron will not have any of that; instead he is planning to ban these purveyors and keep the British people in the dark and away from organizing themselves rather than tackle the underlying factor which triggered the disturbances and fix what is broken within the British society.


Imagine the ever sanctimonious Brits and a Prime Minister Cameron who is now considering banning or rather curtailing peoples right to assemble, communicate and interact? Listen to the Prime Minister, "We are working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services ..........." and Icheoku wonders whether these rights and freedoms are suddenly now subjective and dependent on what is convenient to the government of Prime Minister David Cameron rather than inalienable fundamental rights, not subject to anyone or any government's whims and caprices? Icheoku says were the former the case, then Iranian, Libyan, Syrian as well as the deposed Egyptian and Tunisian governments would have had reasonable grounds not to allow the assemblage and communications amongst their own citizens to disturb and in some cases dislocate their governments? Icheoku maintains that freedom should not be flexibly made dependent on the government's comfort level but at all times exercised fully without any let or hindrance; and therefore condemns the planned ban of social media in Britain because it is being used to organize uncomfortable riots? Banning the British people from communicating through social media is undemocratic infringement on their rights and freedom of speech as well as assembly and expression. 


The British government and its security apparatchik should find other less restrictive ways to checkmate the abuse of these social media by the few, other than completely banning their use just because some supposed trouble-makers might deploy them wrongly to cause havoc? But first, they should endeavor to solve the fundamental root-cause of these disturbances -  the ever widening social and economic inequalities that are the bedrock of these upheavals. Instead of looking at or addressing the symptoms which manifest as riots, the government should attack the disease of festering inequalities that is eating deep into the fabric of the British society. Put in another more simplistic way, one cannot just decide to ban cars just because some people used cars to go on robbery or kill some people. The proper thing or best approach possible is to simply isolate the particular case and deal with it as an individual case but never to punish the whole people collectively for the misdeeds of a few. Icheoku once again, reiterates that neither British Prime Minister David Cameron or any other leader in the Western world or the entire world for that matter should be allowed to turn himself into a dictator, censoring what people can say or do including their right of association or assembly. The planned ban of Tweeter, Facebook, MySpace and other social media is wrong for being over-broad, anti-freedom and undemocratic; therefore the decision or plan must not see the daylight in the interest of what Britain represents to the world - a bastion of freedom!

A STATE BURIAL FOR A COMEDIAN, A GOVERNMENT WITHOUT PRIORITIES?

Once again Icheoku is forced to join issues with the Enugu State government of Sullivan Chime for its lack of serious focus on what the states priorities should and ought to be. The last time it was the government's decision to spend the peoples over 200 million Naira on a jamboree of some "legislative skill-acquisition" in one named foreign country? Now the same rudderless and vision-impaired government of Sullivan Chime has rushed to lay claim of ownership of the dead body of a man who is not even from Enugu State and prodigiously wants to give it a befitting state burial - an honor exclusively reserved for departed statesmen/women who distinguished themselves in service for the home-state while they lived.  

Icheoku asks, what has a comedian done to deserve such an honor and more specifically put, what has this particular comedian, Samuel Loco Efe, done for Enugu State to be entitled to such a high honor of a state burial? It will be recalled that the same government of Sullivan Chime was coy in giving the late sage and founder of Enugu State, Chief CC Onoh, a full state's burial and in the aftermath of his death, was rather busy locking up in police cells one of the late Aninefungwu's blood son? Icheoku truly wonders what manner of a man is this Sullivan Chime that will be so distracted from Enugu State's core businesses as to want and desire to spend the state's meagre resources according a state burial to a man less deserving of the high honor. Sam Loco was a comedian and a good one for that matter; but there ends the eulogy, period. First of all, Sam Loco was not without a known identifiable state of origin and kinsmen - he is a Bini man and the Binis reserve the right to choose where and how to bury their son. Until they otherwise decline or the views of Oba Erediuwa sought and received that they do not want his cadaver, Icheoku says it is impetuous and puerile for the Sullivan Chime's government to rush to declare its interest to accord the comedian a state's burial, footed by Enugu states public fund. It also goes without notice that Enugu State is yet to implement the new miserly 18,000Naira minimum wage leading to the ongoing three day trial-strike by workers, yet the governor wants to spend the state's money running into millions of Naira, giving a state burial to a comedian who is not from Enugu State? 

Icheoku abhors the cheap publicity and showboating being sought by the Enugu State's governor Sullivan Chime with his declaration of intent to accord a "foreigner" and a comedian, a state's burial. Icheoku hereby condemns same as an outright misplacement of state's priorities by a government which ought to be saddled with solving the much pressing needs of the people of Enugu State rather than gallivanting on a publicity stunt of giving a state burial to an ordinary comedian whose presence or company the governor never shared, sought, desired or even acknowledged while he was still alive. Simply put, the proposed state burial by the Enugu State governor for a "foreigner" and a comedian is comical, opportunistic and imbecilic. Icheoku urges every son and daughter of Enugu State to speak out and condemn this madness and even resist the planned appropriation of Enugu States resources to bury a man from Benin Kingdom in Enugu State; moreso when Edo State governor has not said they cannot afford to bury their son or that the body cannot be brought back to Edo State for a Bini burial. 

The intention of Governor Sullivan Chime becomes even more pathetic when one remembers that the same government of Sullivan Chime has not proactively participated in the footing of the medical bills of Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu nor did it accord a state burial to the recently buried Supreme Court Justice Aniagolu from Enugu State. Chief Ojukwu is as Enugu as any Enugu man can be - he was a former governor of Eastern Nigeria with Enugu as capital, he is an inlaw of Enugu State married to Enugu States own beauty queen, he resides in Enugu and above all fought to protect and preserve the dignity of Enugu and surrounding areas from the then marauders of Nigeria. Governor Sullivan Chime considers Chief Ojukwu's current medical needs an Anambra State's private concern but is ready to splash on a state's burial for comedian Sam Loco? When Lomaji Ugorji died, what did the governor do or is Icheoku simply going mad trying to rationalize this development that Enugu State government plans to accord Sam Loco a state's burial? Icheoku does not understand the motivation of the governor and refuses to understand it as there is nothing there to understand to justify such reckless and puerile plans to bury a comedian and a Bini man in Enugu State and worst all, accord him a state's burial reserved for proven statesmen and women from Enugu State. 

The governor's Senior Special Assistant on Media, Afam Okereke, must as a matter of urgency clarify his offensive statement  - either that he was quoted out of context or that he never said a thing like that at all. It is only a government that is groping in the dark in search of what and where to invest the state's resources that could be churning such thought; and please let someone tell Icheoku that every employable youth in Enugu State now has a job or that every rural area of the state now has electricity and/or motorable road or even safe drinking water; yet their governor is embarking on a cheap publicity hunt to spend scarce resources to bury a Bini man in Enugu State and accord him a state's burial? What a deranged decision; even those Nigerians domiciled in the Diaspora still get transported to their respective home states for burial, talkless of a man who was barely acknowledged by the same people now trying to profit some cheap publicity from Sam Loco's demise.  

Even the deceased himself, while still alive, personally acknowledged his state of origin and denied being Igbo when he said in an interview that "I am not even from the Igbo-speaking part of the South South. I am from Benin. So Icheoku wonders how Sam Loco's spirit will even be rested if his body is buried in a place he had denied being from just because a confused governor who fails to get his priorities right is trying to pull a fast one and forcibly assert ownership of a cadaver which belong elsewhere in far way ancient Bini Kingdom with no nexus or lineage to Igboland talkless of Enugu State? Stupid, Stupid, Stupid is such a decision and Stupider is the mind that first thought it out. Icheoku says NO to a state burial for comedian Sam Loco Efe in Enugu State; if Edo State wants to do that, it is definitely their prerogative but definitely not Enugu State. State of origin and not state of domicile nor even state of marriage is still the controlling state authority in Nigeria. Samuel 'Boy-Loco' Efeeimwonkiyeke aka Sam Loco Efe while alive explicitly made this much clear that he is from Benin, Edo State, Nigeria and therefore Icheoku emphatically says his dead body belongs to Edo State, period. Icheoku says at best, Enugu State government of Governor Sullivan Chime could pay for the cost of shipping his cadaver back to Bini Kingdom if it must unnecessarily waste the state's resources for an unworthy and unreasonable cause but nothing more, including the ill-thought out delusional state burial being planned.

OJUKWU, DO NOT MOURN IF AND WHEN HE FINALLY DIES?

Icheoku is truly pissed off at the lack of interest on Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu's healthcare needs and general welfare by the core Igbo peoples of Nigeria especially his immediate Nnewi, Anambra State community. Since his admission at the Ememer Green Ward, Royal Berkshire Hospital London last June 2010, stories have rented the airwaves, media and online world about the near despondent state the former warlord has been left in and without much coming from the so called his people for whose benefit he nearly lost everything, including his life? 

Ikemba Nnewi and Dikoedioranma of Igboland, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, deserves better, having sacrificed so much both in treasure and career to give or rather restore the dignity of the Igboman within the Nigerian community. A former Lieutenant Colonel in the Nigerian army and once General Officer Commanding a Nigerian Army Division, forsook everything including his seniority in the Nigerian army and put his life on the line in defense of his Igbo kindred facing the threat of imminent extermination within the Nigerian society. Icheoku says if the Ikemba is ordinary, he would have just tagged along to get along and would have reaped all the benefits his position, as a very senior Nigerian army officer, would have conferred on him within the Nigerian society. But he had a constitution not endowed most people and as the man he truly is, he stood up to say enough to the Nigerian madmen who were on a mission to completely wipe out the Igbo race. 

At the end of the three year civil war, which was forced on Biafra, Ojukwu in order to save his neck, self-banished himself from Nigeria into exile only to return several years later following a presidential pardon by then President Shehu Shagari. Like the three Rs which Yakubu Gowon dreamt of but which was never fully implemented by those Igbo-hating elements in Nigeria, Shagari's well thought-out gesture had its own opponents, who made it very difficult if not impossible for the Ikemba to truly ever reassert himself back in NIgeria - politically, financially and otherwise. As the resourceful man that he is, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu has successfully managed his fixed finances well enough to stay above board all these years since his return from exile. Unfortunately he has taken ill and is very sick in a London hospital; the least the Igbo people could do for him is to show some appreciation and gratitude for his sacrifices and rush to his aid. 

For those of us who live it or who have experienced life abroad, medical services is one heck of a drain-pipe for anyone's personal finances - the reason why there are so many medical-bills induced bankruptsies in the Western world. Admitted that there exist medical insurances to buy into to protect one from going under water in health emergency or crisis situations, but think about what happens in situations where someone does not have medical insurance or it has expired when he took ill? Ojukwu lives in Nigeria and most likely does not have any overseas medical insurance and by necessary implication is being billed directly, personally, as a medical tourist. This is not a position anyone wants to be found in and it does not matter how rich an individual is. When the exchange rate of the Naira to most useful foreign currencies like the Dollar or British pounds Sterling is factored in, and at an average hospital overnight stay of plus or minus $12,000 per night, it is not a laughing matter for anyone to remain hospitalized for as long as Ojukwu has so far. This averaged $12,000 nightly charges is excluding any specialized visits by consultants and sometimes totally excludes every other hospital services other than a bed and pillow as well as some other miscellaneous services including a nursing attendant. 

Someone known to Icheoku did not have medical insurance when he recently got into an accident and broke his arm. He stayed overnight in the hospital for observation after his fractured arm was set in a cast (POP) and was given some pain killers. Two weeks later, the mailman came and delivered him a bill from the hospital - a total of $76,000 for medical services rendered? One of the itemized bills read $600 for bandages and another $1250 for gauze and so on. Needless to say that out-patient removal of an appendix will take one down $12,000 and now the real picture of Ojukwu's hospitalization begins to crystallize. So assuming Ojukwu's hospitalization bill is about $12,000 per night and at the exchange rate of 150 Naira to a dollar (250Naira to a Pound Sterling) that will set him off 1.8 million Naira every 24 hours? Icheoku asks, does Ojukwu have this kind of money to spend on his health needs and the answer is as good as your guess; and assuming for the purposes of argument, he has it, should he be allowed to spend himself into bankruptcy or homelessness? 

A man of Ojukwu's standing ordinarily deserves to have his medical care needs at the present time declared catastrophic, with the Federal Government of Nigeria stepping in to take full responsibility for its offset. But here is a man declared enemy of the state by Nigeria's power that be and not withstanding his State pardon, is still being resisted, chastised and loathed by many of those who wished him and Biafra, ill. So at such a fork on the road, it is expected that the very Eastern Nigeria region he fought to protect from a threatened genocidal apocalypse, should step in to fill the void and by extension, assure this war hero that his efforts were not in vain and that there are appreciated. So far to the best of icheoku's knowledge, only Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State has done something to assist Ojukwu with his medical bills and hospitalization; but whether it is enough, Icheoku is not in a position to affirmatively so conclude. So out of five core Igbo States and four other states that constituted the former Eastern Nigeria region or Biafra, only one showed up and you ask yourself, what happened to the rest? 

Once again, Icheoku reiterates that Ojukwu's healthcare and social welfare needs is not the sole responsibility of Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State but that of all other governors from that region, for which defense and protection led Ojukwu to take up arms against Nigeria. To do otherwise and pretend that it is none of their business will show these beneficiaries of that largess as ingrates or ignorant or both. Delineating it further, Icheoku says those core Igbo governors of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States should make the present Ojukwu's medical needs their collective responsibility on behalf of the Igbo nation. Icheoku says no true Igbo man or woman will object to even a budgetary allocation to an Ojukwu Healthcare Appeal Fund? In the alternative, each of these governors are respectively allocated over 600 million Naira each month as security votes and could sacrifice just a little portion of that huge money for the sake of our dear Ikemba. It is a good deed; it is a right thing to do. These governors could easily do this if only they believe in a good cause - just one percent or even ten percent of one month's allocation only and help a man without whom they possibly would all be speaking Hausa now and knocking their foreheads on the grounds in prayer? 

Icheoku believes that were these governors truly grateful for the sacrifice made by Ojukwu for and on behalf of the Igbo people in particular, and somewhat now interested in the welfare of Ojukwu in reciprocity, they could easily secure approval from their respective States House of Assembly for some financial gratuity towards Ojukwu's medical assistance fund and even stage an appeal fund for that purpose and ask fellow Nigerians to help them save Ojukwu. The Nigerian people are not cold-blooded and usually comes to their neighbor's help and these governors would have gladly assisted the good cause. Oha N'Eze Ndigbo, Aka Ikenga and such other Igbo organisations should conduct Ojukwu Get Well fundraising/appeal fund and invite all the "Akajiakus of Igboland" to come to the aid of Dikedioranma of Igboland. Particularly most worrisome in this Ojukwu health-saga is the near total indifference of Nnewi people to the health needs of their most prominent son - the Ikemba Nnewi; and Nnewi people are reputed for having very deep pockets and parades themselves as the richest community in Igbo land? Regrettably, Icheoku is not in a position to know the underlying village-politics in Nnewi that is forestalling their help and/or support of one of their own. 

Icheoku have written severally on the urgent need to assist a man of the people now in need of the peoples help and here once again call on the good people of Igbo-land to rush to Ikemba's help before he gives up the ghost, lonely, dejected and despaired. Icheoku warns that the spirit of the Ikemba will not take kindly to all those people making preparation to show up and own his funeral on the day he eventually kicks the bucket. Those showboating pretenders who are presently coy about helping out an Ojukwu in need, should not shed crocodile tears in the event Ojukwu finally succumbs to his current medical issues. In short they should not mourn Ojukwu! One Igbo musician Mike Ejegha's song says "honor me while I am still alive - Jam nma n'ndu"; so Icheoku pleads and calls on all those Igbo billionaires and politicians alike to show up now or forever keep their peace and never show up to read useless eulogies the day the Ikemba finally yields his ghost. 

The baddest news emanating from the current Ikemba's lonesome experience and near-abandonment in a London hospital is that it will operate as a chill on future patriots who may want to do good for the people. If Igbo people could so easily forget their Odumegwu Ojukwu as to literally abandon him to his own personal destiny at this hour of his most need, a hero who stood between them and their traducers - an otherwise assured annihilation within the Nigeria contraption, who thereafter would not be similarly forgotten at his or her hour of dire need. So instead of a common pursuit for the benefit of the people, such person/s in positions of authority would rather be genuflecting and selling-out to Igbo nemesis of Nigeria just to feather their personal nests for the rainy day, regardless whether their action is or would be detrimental to the Igbo people as a whole. Icheoku is therefore on bended knees pleading please, please, please Igbo people and your governors, come to the aid of the Ikemba and Dikedioranma of Igboland, the peoples war-hero before it is too late. Please let Igbo people help Ojukwu see more days and possibly a future where all that he stood for and fought for may eventually come to pass; or at least necessary changes made to the necessitating conditions that led to the confrontation and by extension improve the condition of the coalition of the unwilling nations which constitute Nigeria. Igbo people, Ojukwu needs some financial help to offset his medical bills and/or seek more and improved medical care, possibly in America. So come to his aid now before it is too late; otherwise do not mourn if and when he finally dies!

BRITISH REVOLUTION AFOOT, ARAB SPRING SPREADS TO HM'S KINGDOM?

Icheoku is just wondering whether the scourge of Arab Spring, which have held Arab leaders hostage for quite some time now, with many of them still trying to figure out how to survive, has finally spread to Britain? The anger of the youths in a society where the haves have more and the have-nots have less has finally boiled over and in its trail are left burning and burnt out buildings, cars, shops and in some cases, entrapped people being forced by raging flames to take a leap of faith from several stories high into the arms of waiting rescuers? Icheoku asks, is this the beginning of British revolution or what? 

The solution may be simple - the powers that be should meaningfully address the problem of joblessness and racism prevalent in down-trodden neighborhoods of Britain. Like the popular aphorism goes, whatever touches the nose affects the eyes; and since humanity are in it together, they must as a unit, figure out the way out of the woods of the economic malaise which is speedily enveloping almost every Western nation. The pretended calm and fake "everything is fine" facade is finally over and now the world has seen the rot that is festering within the bowels of an affluent Western society that treats her citizens differently based on the color of skin and area of residence? It tells a tale that all is not well with Britain; hence change is needed to correct the anomaly.

Icheoku asks, using the Arab Spring as a template, is it now okay to also demand that Prime Minister David Cameron and his ruling class of British elites as well as Her Majesty, respect the wish of the British people and step aside from office and allow real peoples democracy to take hold? Are there reforms that need to be made to forestall just happenstances in the future such as would create more jobs and more conducive environment for more opportunistic growth for all? What led to the disturbances and could they be corrected? These were some of the questions asked during the heat of the Arab Spring and so it is fair enough to extend same to the Brits now that similar societal protest is afoot in their land. 

Icheoku is asking these burning questions in view of the demand made on Arab and Middle Eastern leaders recently when their citizens rose up against the statusquo in the now fast spreading Arab Spring? Or better still could the London riots have been engineered from Tripoli - the promised war which Ghadaffi said he was going to take to Europe? While the authorities try to establish a handle to the riots and figure out what went awry, London is still burning. As London burns, probably so goes the 2012 London Olympics Games and Icheoku asks, is it still safe and okay to carry on with the world's meet in an insecure London?

MAJOR MUSTAPHA'S CONFESSION, TRUTH COULD COME FROM AN IMBECILE?

Icheoku says before Nigerians dismiss Major Hamza al-Mustapha's confessional on the murder of Chief MKO Abiola by the then Nigeria state as a none issue, they should first grasp the two major issues triggered by his confession and try investigating same:-

1. That Chief Moshood Kashimawo Oluwole Abiola was murdered by the Nigerian State and

2. That the his ethnic Yoruba people were complicit in his murder and/or the attempt at its cover up?

Icheoku says Nigerians should please not rush to throw away the baby with the bath water and instead actively investigate the allegation or rather confession of Major Hamza al - Mustapha. Major Mustapha was an insider in the government that detained Abiola and is possibly with real direct knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the death of Abiola. He was also part of the transition that saw the emergence of the succeeding government of Abubakar Abdulsalami and probably had an insight on what transpired, leading to Abiola's death and cannot possibly be bluffing with such a magnitude of heinous and grave allegation of accusing Abdulsalami with Abiola's murder. 

Icheoku also heard that the true reason why Attorney General Bola Ige was assassinated was his quest to investigate the circumstances surrounding Abiola's death as well as other unsolved murders in Nigeria. So the question is are Nigerians going to dismiss Mustapha's allegation and sweep same under the carpet or are they going to demand that all that were complicit in his murder be brought to justice or better still demand to know why the man they elected president was so brutally killed in custody?

DOG IS MANS BEST FRIEND, YOU'RE RIGHT?

 Icheoku says feed me, bath me, walk me, buy me toys and treats, podicure me, take me to hospital when sick, groom me every other two weeks, dress me up like a cartoon character with doggie-shoes that do not let me be dog as I cannot walk or scratch the earth on them, patiently wait as I sniff the earth and chew on some stuff, do not make me replace that sofa or shoe that I chewed on and finally pick my poop whenever I choose to ease my bowels and you got a friend, more loyal and more loving than that your glassy-eyed friend. 

Provided you do not spade me and will not always have me on a leech; you got a friend who will take your bullet and put his hands in a blade just to protect you, regardless of what Bruno Mars may otherwise think? Also, once in a while I will wag my "tail-feather" in appreciation of all that I get for nothing while I say privately, look at this foolish human? This is the life of a dog and its owner - a selfless service in return for a selfless undiluted love. Icheoku asks, if dogs are not completely dependent on their owners and can ordinarily fend for themselves like cats if need be, would they be this loyal as to earn the title "man's best friend? All dog lovers this one is for you, let me know what you think? 

For a little experiment on love, treat that your boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, husband, partner or even friend with all the love and attention you show to your little four-legged creature, without expecting anything in return or bitching about what you have done for him or her, and you got yourself a loving life partner to die for. It is reality check, so when next time one says "dog is man's friend," ask yourself why not and if all that you are expected to do is just wag your tail, lick up body-parts sometimes and just tag along, why not; and why would a dog not be fiercely loyal to its owner; afterall it cannot do much if left alone by itself. Icheoku believes dogs are the smarter ones in any relationship between a dog and a dog owner or what do you think?